Application of magnetic susceptibility of Holocene deposits in analysis of the sea-level changes in the South Caspian Sea

Most of the previous studies on the relative sea level changes of the Caspian Sea have been carried out on the foreshore sediments، which are mostly affected from the land processes، such as human activities. In this paper، relative sea level changes of this basin is investigated based on the sedimentological characteristics of 7 cores collected from the offshore parts. This is for minimizing the effects of the land processes on the analysis of the relative sea level changes. This study mainly focuses on the magnetic susceptibility (MS)، as a signi cant factor in the study of relative sea level changes of the offshore deposits. Magnetic susceptibility of studying successions is investigated by comparison of their MS value to the mean MS value in the marine sediments. The positive values of the MS indicate the abundance of detrital grains in the sediments، whereas the negative values indicate the low sediment inux to the basin. Results from this study shows that the MS value of the studying sediments depends on the amount of detrital grains derived from the land. Due to the high inux of the detrital material to the offshore setting during the relative sea level fall، the high and low values of the MS in the sediments are related to the relative sea level fall and relative sea level rise periods respectively.